Mortal Kombat and Hula Hoops

I love my family. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family where I actually LOVE spending time with them. This past week my sister and I drove up to St. Louis to spend the holiday with our mom, dad, and younger brother. Nothing but a week full of good conversation, wonderful food, great runs through St. Louis, listening to my brother and cousin play the bongo's and guitar, consuming massive amounts of wine, and ice skating!! :) Life really can't get any better.

Mom - finding her inner bongo player

The girls did not get the height in the family

My brother and cuz getting ready to go ice skating

Allison decided to stay on the couch - while mom, dad and I went out for a FREEZING run!



But I can't leave out playing WII fit. I'm not into game systems at all - the last game I played was probably Mortal Kombat sitting with Gina at a swim meet when we where 16 on our game gears. Seriously. But Wii fit was awesome. Just call me Hula Hoop master! My WHOLE family got into it - aunts, uncles, everyone!




Here I am working the hula hoop. Our Wii fit players name was 'Barbara' - she was 4'10 and weighted 190. Needless to say - Barbara was rocking the Wii fit all night.



If you are ever in St. Louis and looking for a great running store - check out Big River Running Company. Awesome, knowledgeable staff with a great selection shoes and fun running garb. Except for pink compression socks. They looked at me like I was crazy when I asked them if they had any! Oh well - must be a southern thing.

And we do have a new member of the family - her name is Margo. My aunt and uncle adopted this freaking cute ball of fur a week before christmas. So far she is fitting in well with the rest of the pack we currently have running around every family function!




But it's good to be back on beach time. Warm weather, salt water in the air, and sunshine is what my body functions off of. Hope everyone had a great holiday - now to think about those New Years Resolutions.....hmmm...

Yolo - ing

If you have not tried it - you need to! It's actually called stand up paddle board, but a friend of mine who I train with is marketing it in this area (as well as Southern Florida) as Yolo Borad. Yolo stands for You Only Live Once. Love it. Below is a picture of me and two other members of the female team that one last years race series. I was kind of a 'bandit' on the team - one of their members was not able to make it for the finaly race - but still it was awesome! What a great workout! Check out the site... www.yoloboard.com

You have a bird...at a bar

You never know who you will meet on a random Thursday night. Living here we run into some pretty random people - Michelle Kwan (ice skater) was here last week, Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo spend time here, and this time of the year you'll see the members of American Rejects out and about quite a bit. But last night took the cake. Captain Morgan - the smoking, cat calling bird who only shits when you hold him over a deck. This bird was pretty darn cool. The owner, Jim, had 17 birds at one time and actually traveled with his wife doing bird shows. It was a pretty neat story about how they got into it. They first purchased a bird for pet therapy - and it escalated from there. They went all over the county with their flock of birds entertaining. He is now down to four brids - but this bird specifically had a pretty cool story.


Captain Morgan was once owned by a general who kept the bird in his office at the Pentagon. Well, according to Jim, this type of bird can be traumatized and can effect the Bird for the rest of his life. Captain Morgan was in the Pentagon durning 911 - so he had some anger issues for awhile.
Jim ended up adopting Captain five years ago and pretty much saved the bird from being put down. The bird is around 40 years old - and they can live to be between 80-100. So good old Jim has a friend for life.




But I'm not going to lie - birds like that kind of freak me out (as you can tell by the pictures). I just think about that huge beak and how it can look at me and take off my nose.

After such a crappy and stressful day yesterday - I have to admit that running into Captain Morgan really lifted my mood :) Not only that - but last night was just one of those good, unplanned, evenings. Jason and I went out for a glass of wine (or two) and some dinner and ended up running into some good friends of ours. Everyone has been really busy lately (one being a mortgage broker, one being a builder, and me being a property insurance agent) so it felt so good to catch up and unwind for a bit. I remember when I was younger how I didn't understand why it was so hard for people to get together. I mean - who wouldn't want to be able to go out to dinner with your friends every night? But now it's hard for us to even chat on the phone! With the holidays, work, and training - at the end of the day I just want to lay in my bed, with a good book and veg.

Ahhh..when ever I'm finished with my work today, my sister Allison and I are off to St. Louis for the week! Soooo excited to have some quality time with the family - plus I LOVE that town. So much to do and see - great places to eat with wonderful live bands to dance to!! For those of you who live in the St. Louis area - you'll see me making my rounds of Forrest Park for my long run of the week! I can't think of a cooler run - not only do you get to run by a huge outdoor skating rink, but you get to run by the St. Louis Zoo! And the best part is - is that my whole family runs as well. We seriously look like a track team when we run. Love it.

Martha Stewart and Hoping Not to get Shot By Hunters

I love weekends.

Friday night was our office Christmas Party which is always a good time. We started out with drinks at our boss's house and then had dinner at D&K's which is right down the street in Grayton Beach. So for dinner we had excellent buffet of wonderful Creole food. YUM. Still full. Then we headed back to our boss's house for dessert. And more wine. I love wine. Really love wine. But the boyfriend and I did really well and made it home early. But the down side was the next morning my sinuses where out of control! Some of the co-workers smoke, and living in Florida you can't smoke in bars or restaurants, so I'm never around it. THANK GOODNESS! I was not hungover, but my body was not happy with the smoke that I was around!

Saturday was the perfect day in. My inner Martha was calling, so I had to take advantage of it. I'm not the most domestic person, so this was going to be interesting. Sugar cookies where on the menu - which a special thanks to Mrs. Gina Jolly's (that still sounds weird even though she's been married since July) awesome recipe. So I made a few dozen from scratch sugar cookies to pass out this week. This process takes awhile - if I don't take mini breaks, I get bored and end up doing a crap job. So it was a day long event.



I wanted to do a few with the 'Tiffany Blue' color which are not very Christmasey, but I really don't care. They looked good! Jason approved - because they where not super sweet so with the addition of the cream cheese frosting they where perfect. Now I need ot figure out who I can pass them out to! **Please note that I did the majority of the cooking watching IM Kona on tv :)**

Sunday I met up with an awesome friend of mine, Lisa P, and ran the trails in one of the state parks in our area. It is always so good to get 'off the beaten path' and to run a different route. Lot's of sand involved, so I can already feel the soreness that I'm going to encounter tomorrow! But it feels so good to use different muscles and switch it up a bit. Keeping around an 8:50 pace - Lisa and I got an awesome 11 mile sunday morning run.


But, this time of year, you have to be careful of hunters. I'm all about hunting season - I am not a fan of running into a deer in the middle of the road late at night. When I lived in Michigan we actually had no school the first day of hunting season. Being from Southern Missouri and 10 years old, I thought it was awesome. Anyway, we heard a few gun shots before we started and saw a few deer stands, but luckily we both dressed in super bright colors and stuck out like sore thumbs.

Picture of my sweet running outfit and Ms. Buela -my dog for the weekend.



Finished off this awesome morning with some very tasty juice made from the juicer which I'm finally getting around to learning how to use (thanks Lisa!). Carrots, celery, orange, lemon, and apple with a shot of "Tahiti's Finest" Super Noni. YUM! And a plate full of fresh caught stone crabs! YUM YUM! (thanks Jason!!)





I love weekends.

A few more pictures

Here are few more pictures from the Zooma Hilly ass 1/2 marathon from about a month ago in Atlanta. I know I talked about it before - but I don't think I could have pulled through all of those hills with out Karen. She is such an excellent runner - and an even better 'talker'. Seriously, I think she talked through out the whole race which was awesome! I am so looking forward to seeing her and her family on the beach over Christmas! Thanks again Karen for all of the encouraging words!




On the note of long runs - myself and three other people where planning on doing a 16-18 mile run on Sunday. Well, after running through a few state parks and 1/2 completed neighborhoods (which we have a few of in this area) it ended up being pretty close to 19-20 miles. Needless to say, my body just stopped about about mile 18. I was hurting. Calfs, hips, gut, everything. So, after the run, Burk becuase he is such a great running partner and friend went over my nutrition for the day and spotted some problems. Not enough nutrition through out the run. That is something I am playing with every time I go long - so it's a work in process. But in the Draggin Tail 18 miler - I had a GU and some water about every 4 miles and felt AWESOME! So I'm just going to have to stick to that from now on!

Talk about cheesing it up....

I can't help it! Everytime I see a camera when I'm racing - I have to pull an 'America's Next Top Model' pose. Here are a few pictures from the Destin Crab Trap this past fall. This was a short and fast race, 800 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. I came in 16th female after over all but I came in 9th in my age group!! WTF?!? But for my first tri season - I'm not to upset :) Looking back at this past season - I have to admit that joining this crazy sport has made me one happy girl. I love the new friendships that I have made, how my lifestyle has changed for the better, and how I just feel (period). I could not be happier. Looking forward to next season to learn from my past mistakes and to improve. Life is good!

Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Random thoughs...

This is kind of random - but I wanted to put everything on one post. Here is the break down:
1. Watercolor Turkey Trot - Thanksgiving
2. New Trainer - ummm...in my bedroom
3. Saturday morning party

Over Thanksgiving we ran a 5K on the beach - yes - on the very sandy beach. It was put on by Camp Watercolor (my sister) Thanksgiving morning. 200+ people showed up to enjoy the 3.1 mile stroll along the lovely coast. Its so good to see just a ton of families along with all of their children enjoying the start of a food filled day :) Here is a picture of 'Team Elfrink' along with Mike the Turkey:




Adding onto the topic ot Thanksgiving - my sister and I were so excited when my family decided to come down here (and not stay at our place!) for the holiday! So last week we got to spend a ton of time with my Mom, Dad, brother, Lilly the dog and my crazy (in a good way) Grandmother. Grandmother just turned 80 a few months ago, still looks awesome, and likes to throw back some dirty martinis! I love my family! But we would spend our evenings cooking dinner, drinking wine and then playing random dice and card games. Good times no doubt!







Ok - topic two. As I mentioned before, Santa came early via UPS with my new trainer. I finally got it put together and now there is no reason I can not get my ass on my bike. So pretty much every morning that I'm not running, I will be enjoying the news with my butt on the butterfly seat. Ugh. I'm just trying to get excited about this.



Finally on to topic three - Saturday morning running party. Who else wants to meet at 7am to run 14 miles?!??! Last week there where quite a few. And actually we had some random vacationers who where just out running and our group just kind of sucked them in. Just looking at the picture just brings the humidity back. That was such a hot, sticky run. But you must admit, we are a pretty good looking crew for just rolling out of bed!

Missing the races....

So - I understand that it's 'cold' here in Florida and tri season is pretty much over for me until 1/2 IM New Orleans. But I really really wish there was at least one tri somewhere around here! I'm so tired of just running races! I just think back to those weekends where I had 2-4 races to choose from. I would even take a YOLO board race (www.yoloboard.com) right now!

Ok. I'm done bitching. I'm going to google to see if there is something going on in Southern Florida I might be able to make. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

Christmas Came Early!

Santa was very good to me this year -



I think it's funny that the older we get - the harder it is figure out 'what you want for Christmas'. Back in the day I could probably rattle off millions of toys, games, etc. But now - it takes some real digging. I always want something that I know I will use, and use often. So a trainer was on the top of my list this year. Also, every year since I was 6 my stocking would be filled with at least one speedo, a cap, and new goggles. Bless my mom for keeping that tradition going!

With this in mind - what do you want for Christmas this year?

IMAZ

Four of my friends got into IronMan AZ for next year! CONGRATS to them!!

Draggin Tail 18 Mile Run

A very random distance, but a very good race. Last Saturday was the annual 18 mile Draggin Tail run in lovely Sunny Hills, FL. Sunny Hills is such a small town, that I could not find it on weather.com to find out what the temperature was that morning! I'm also pretty sure the only things in this town are churches and golf courses. Literally. Anyway, you could either do the race as a relay (6 miles each) or the full 18. Since we all have upcoming marathons, mostly everyone opted for the full 18.

The morning started out at a blistering 27 degrees - but at least it was sunny. The night before the race I was kind of stressing out what to wear, tights or shorts? Turtleneck or tech shirt? So I ended up rocking shorts, long sleeve tech shirt, ear warmers and visor. (hey, it was sunny and I was running 18 miles - so I figured that I would warm up!) I picked up Kelly around 6:15am and headed up to Sunny Hills. It was about a 45 min drive north of Panama City. We get the the race and met up with the rest of our training/triathlon group. Our main goal was to use this as a training run - not to push it to hard and just enjoy the run. And all of the hills that came with it.

The race was on county roads that lead through beautiful forests with rolling hills. EVERYONE was freaking out about the hills - but to be honest they where not NEARLY as bad as the Atlanta race the weekend before. Not even close! I felt like a seasoned hill runner :) Anyway - I stuck with a good 9 to 9:30 min mile pace and just cruised along. Fueling myself with GU's and water every 4-6 miles kept me going and feeling strong. I completed the race in 2:51 which was under what I was expecting! Also, everyone in our training group placed! I rocked out a 2nd in my age group which I was pretty proud of - since I took it as a training run!



To be honest - I was not sure how I would feel towards the end of the race. But I felt amazing. So in two weeks we are heading up to Huntsville, AL to run the Rocket City Marathon! What's another 8.2 miles?

On a side note - non race related - my whole family is down here at the beach for the holiday! They are in an amazing condo that overlooks the gulf right down the street from my condo. I'm so excited...that they are not staying at my place :)

ZOOMA Hilly Ass 1/2 Marathon

Saturday morning I left the beach to head up to Atlanta. The drive was fine thanks to the great sunny weather and my book on cd (make fun of me if you wish - but long drives by your self it's a life saver!). I made it to Karen's condo and we took off to go shopping. Oh the damage I would do if I lived in a large city again! The first place we went to was a consiment store where I made it out with 2 pairs of $200 each jeans for $66. Love it. Went to a few more places and then headed back home to meet up with Karen's hubby and went out to dinner. Got home early and hit the sack.
Sunday morning we got up around 5:30am (430 my time) and checked out the weather channel. Well - the wind chill was about 27. Ugh. I live in Florida! I'm not used to weather like this!! So after about 20 minutes deciding what we would wear we where out the door. Thanks to Karen's husband - we where dropped off right at the race site in Atlantic Station. After the bag check and a quick trip to the port-a-potty we where off. Not sure what pace we wanted, we had to pace bracelets on and pretty much stayed in between an 1:50 and a 1:55 finish time pace. Karen is a great person to run with because she just chats away and makes sure take your GU (which I forget about sometimes!!) She is kind of like running with your own coach! Anyway - hill after hill after hill I wanted to shoot myself. And normally you would think if you go up a hill, you'll go back down. Well, not in Atlanta. It's up one hill and then up another! But the pace was good, the weather was perfect, and the course was very scenic. The end came and we ended up coming in at 1:56:31. Pretty good considering the hills - but I know my next 1/2 I will be pushing to be under 1:55 :)
*Sorry, had to add the picture of the hot twins from Ironman Florida*





At the end of the race, came through the shoot and got a wonderful silver necklace! Well worth the hills! ***I'll post pictures tomorrow!!*** We didn't linger to long at the after party - sweat and cold do not mix to well!

Here are my overall results:
Total: 113 out of 770
Sex: 90 out of 711
AG: 16 out of 113

I love youtube

This is just too funny - I don't know if it's just me, but I think the dog is trying to tell me to get off of my butt and get on my damn bike!

ZOOMA 1/2 Marathon

This weekend I'm heading up to hot-lanta for a the Zooma Women's 1/2 marathon. The be honest, the only reason I signed up for this race is because you get a silver necklace at the end instead of a metal. And the race tech shirts are pretty awesome. I'm staying with my friend Karen who did Ironman Wisconson a few months ago. It will be a very fun weekend!! Sooo looking forward to getting out of town and getting away form the beach.

Karen is a very good runner and she is going to bandit the race and pace me to hopefully get under a 1:55 - but we'll see. This course has some hills and my right hamstring has been bothering me a bit. Wish me luck!!

Ironman Florida - from a draft marshal's point of view

Wow! What an amazing day! It started bright and early at 5:15am picking up Lisa W and Missy and the boyfriend dropped us off pretty close to the race site (thanks Jason!). There where people everywhere. We helped Lisa take her special needs bags to the designated places, got her body marked and then she ran off to get her drinks mixed and her bike ready.

Missy and I headed over to the draft marshals breakfast to get ready. Once we got started, we found out that the camera crews where going to take 1/2 of our motorcycles. Hmm. Thanks for the warning guys - we could have easily gotten more bikes if needed. But it was too late. So we where down to 5 draft marshals. Please note that this course is KNOWN for being a high drafting course due to it being fast and flat for the 112 mile bike. Awesome. Anyway - we got our helmets, stripped ref jerseys, cards and note pads and headed down to the swim.

Luckily the gulf was nice and flat. Could not have asked for better conditions! Everyone what we knew who was racing where all in the same place with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone all pumped up and ready to go. Just looking around the beach, you could see thousands of people ready to cheer everyone on. The swim portion consisted for two laps of a buoy marked 1.2 mile circle. Once the swimmers got done with one lap - they had to get out of the water, run about 100 yards and then get back in for the 2nd lap. They had to run over the chip mat to make sure they did the two required laps. While we where standing there cheering everyone on - we saw a guy with FINS!! WTF!?!?

So about an hour into the swim - we had to go up and to meet up with the other marshals and get on the bikes. Luckily, my driver was a local who does triathlons as well - so we where a force to be reconded with. We knew exactly what to look for and how to hopefully break up the packs. Once we got going, it was amazing to see the drafting that was going on. Intentional and non-intentional. After being yelled at by some riders (who knew what they where doing was illegal) and cheered by others who saw who we would give out penalties to - we put a good amount of people in the penalty tents.

But the craziest thing was - was that while we where heading back to the transition area, the last 12 miles was when we saw the worst drafting. The "I'm going to ride this guys back wheel until I finish" vicious age groupers kind of drafting. It was so frustrating not only for the riders they where drafting off of, but for us as well. So once again, we foiled quite a few peoples plans of doing that by making them stop at the penalty tent for 4 minutes. One guy was drafting off of a female pro 2 miles into transition - once we gave him the card she was ecstatic. He argued. Come on now. Put on your big boy pants and get over it.

It was great to hear that the penalty tents where full. Please don't get the idea that we where out to get everyone - but IMFL is known for drafting. We just wanted to try our best to make the race fair for everyone. It can be so frustrating when you know someone is behind you using 45% less energy - but keeping the same pace as you. And there is nothing that you as the rider can do but speed up and hope they can't catch up or drop back.











After we where finished - we where all over the place cheering on everyone completing the final marathon leg. Not to mention sitting in the VIP tent watching the top pro's finish as well. It was such a great experience and I'm so proud of everyone who raced. So inspirational.

Now I have to make the decision - Louisville Iroman in August? It's a hard decision to make. Most of the people I train with are doing Louisville, so naturally I'll be training with them if I'm doing the race or not. And if I don't do the race, I'll be a draft marshal. Decisions decisions.....

IMFL - Race report from a draft marshal's point of view

Report and pictures comming soon - but all I can say was wow. All of the athletes where so inspirational, not only my friends who competed (who took the race at made it their bitch!!) but everyone else. Loved every second of it. I can't wait to do a full IM myself!

Life Style

Per my entry below, I was talking about making triathlons a life style, and not just hobby. This made me think. Granted, I am getting older and not a big fan of drinking overpriced drinks and crowded bars, but my weekends are pretty boring. For example - last weekend the boyfriend and I didn't do much Friday night, but at least I was not by myself. Saturday night I usually go to bed pretty early due to our 6:30am 50 mile group bike and 5-10 mile run brick on Sundays.

Anyway, last Saturday I found myself drinking chocolate soy milk, ironing, and watching Ghostbusters II on Bravo. And it was 8:30pm. My sister gets home with some friends, they get dressed up for a Halloween party, and head out for a fun and drunken night. For a minute I felt like a total loser. Here I am, 28 years old, doing the most boring thing ever on a Saturday night. Usually this does not phase me at all, but for some reason last weekend it did.

At about 6:45 the next morning, riding with the group watching the sun come up, I realized why I enjoy getting up so early on a Sunday morning (even though it's the only day that I can sleep in!). I don't mind giving up those crazy drunken nights and awful, hungover mornings to watch a beautiful sunrise, seeing the gulf first thing in the morning, and getting a face full of fresh air. I love the friends that I have made and the levels of fitness I have achieved by living the triathlon lifestyle that I now lead.

There is nothing wrong with going out and letting your hair down, and I will do that every now and then. But right now this is what is right for me. :)

Ironman Florida!

Ironman Florida is this weekend over in Panama City Beach, FL. A few people that I train with are racing - which is very exciting. Being the good friend that I am, I decided to head to the beach this morning to throw out some moral support. The first open water swim with the buoys out started at 7am. And after I met up with Lisa P, there I am. Standing on the beach in a ski jacket and my uggs boots. It was a blistering 49 outside! But at least the sun was out and the water was still around 70 for the swimmers. Everyone had on wet suits and eyeing my warm attire :)

But it was a great morning and everyone felt good about their swim. Some of the people that I've been training with, the swimming is their weakest part. This puts a huge mental strain on them. Specially with it being an open water swim, a mass start, and not knowing how the conditions will be on the day of the race. For those of you who have not done open water swims, it's totally different from being in the pool. I have 20 years of competitive swimming under my belt - and my first open water swim was a huge eye opener!! But at this point for my friends who are competing, you just have to be positive and let them know how pumped and proud you are for them to even do the race!


Looks fun right?


After their hours and hours of training for the past months these athletes have everything that the need to check this huge accomplishment off of their list. For most of these athletes, this is a whole lifestyle, not just a causal hobby you pick up. An Ironman is not only one of the most physical challenging task an athlete can do, but also a huge mental task as well. I can not wait until the day that I'm able to say that I am an Ironman!

I'll post a report after the race on Saturday. I'll be spending most of the bike portion on the back of a motorcycle being a bike marshal. Attempting to keep the bike section free of drafting!

Good luck to everyone who is racing! We'll be cheering you on from the sidelines!

Rock-N-Roll Marathon

So - just got word that we are going to be running the Rock-N-Roll Marathon in San Antoino on 11/16/08. I guess sponsors threw a few more open slots out there and Lisa totally made calls to get me and Missy in. I'm going to need to kick up the mileage :)

**UPDATE** Well - we mapquested how long it would take us to get to Texas, and it ends up being almost 13 hours!! So, we decided not to do it. I don't think I could ride in a car that long after a marathon :) So I'll be heading to Atlanta for the Zooma 1/2 :) Much closer!!

Finally a race report

Well, I forgot my Garmin again. So no splits. But here is the low-down on the race we ran last weekend. It was a 1/2 marathon in Panama City Beach put on by The Girls Incoporated of Bay County . A bunch of people that I train with decided to do it mostly for a training run. A few of our runners are doing Ironman Florida on Nov 1st and the rest of us just wanted to get it under 2 hours. Anyway, I'm gonig to have to give the people who put on the race a high five for having not only a 1/2 marathon but also a 5K and a one mile fun run - and this is the first race this organization put on!!

At first I was a bit nervous because the run was scheduled to start at 8am which is pretty late for a run in Florida this time of the year. But we have a cold front pushing through making it pretty chilly at the start of the race. There where only about 300 people who signed up for the race, so it was farily small. We where all huddled together at the start. Some people where making fun of me for sporting my sports bra with shorts, but come on now, you're going to wish you didn't have that jacket on when you hit mile 2! And I was right - the race started and we took off. The sun came out and the weather felt great. We could not ask for a better day. Myself, Kent, and Kim all ran together for most of the race. Weaving in and out of neightborhoods along Front Beach Road (if you didn't know, Front Beach Road goes right along the beach). They had water and gatorade about every 1.5 to 2 miles which is a plus, but there where some intersections (being 4 lanes) where there where no police to stop traffic. Thankfully the drivers where patient with us!

We where rocking out between an 8:30 to 9:00 mile pace most of the race and just chatted away about who knows what. Around mile 11.5 it hit me. My body shut down. Kim took off (she took a GU) and Kent was a bit in front of me. The last 1.5 miles where right along the beach which was pretty and all, but the wind 'tunnel' caused by all of the condos made running a bit difficult. It felt like I was running in place. Plus I didn't take a GU. I could have shot myself after the race! Training I'm pretty consistant in staying fueled on long runs and bikes. But I how no clue why I didn't that day. Oh well. Live and learn!

About the last 1/2 mile there was a guy that passed me. As he ran by he said "Thanks for being my Rabbit". Whoa. Wrong thing to say. So I shot back "Well, I'll bet you at the end". And sure enough I did. :) I crossed finishing at (according to the Garmin) 1:58:11 Goal reached!! And even though I didn't feel to hot - I always have to cheese it up for the camera:


I ended up placing 3rd in my age group - which I just found out. Since this was their first race, results took a bit of time to get out :) They will be sending out personalized medals.

**Not race related - but check out this site - http://www.medals4mettle.org/index.htm - It's a great organization that takes donated metals to to people who might not be able to race, but are in their own race with life. Physicians will present your donated metal to people dealing with disease, handicaps or any similar challenge.**

But I would like to throw out a HUGE Congrats to Kim for running such an amazing race. She didn't want to do it in the first place and did not think she could break the 2 hour goal we had!!

Girls Incorporated is a great program that is nation wide. It helps girls by giving them a balanced program of supplemental education that empowers girls to live and succeed in an inequitable world.

Race report...

coming soon. I keep on forgetting to bring my Garmin to work so I can post my splits. Internet down at the house :)...but I did get under two hours!

Girls Incorporated Half Marathon

Tomorrow - 1/2 marathon in Panama City Beach. A cold front is going to be pushing through so the weather will be AWESOME! We have a large group of people that I train with who are racing. Very excited. I'm pushing for under 2 hours - so we'll see!

This is the first race that the organizers are putting together, so hopefully they will have:
1) Water stations!
2) Port-a-potties
3) Beer after!!
I'm sure everything will move smoothly!

Something to think about

I just found out today that a friend's mom is very ill. Cancer is a very scary thing and can suddenly change your life. When my grandfather passed 2 months ago of aggressive cancer - a friend of mine told me "Grief is the price we all pay for love"

Don't take anything for granted :)

Crab Trap 2008

On Saturday I raced the Crab Trap Triathlon. It was a pretty fast race - 400 meter swim in the gulf, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run. The weather was perfect (except for the head wind most of the bike) but it was not hot, humid and sticky like the past few races! Mom came to the race as well and brough Lilly (the dog). It was exciting for her to see what I've been spending most of my time doing the past few months! Anyway - here is the break down of my race:

Distance Short
Clock Time 1:05:03
Overall Place 130 / 377
Gender Place 17 / 131
Division Place 9 / 28
Sextotal 120
Divtotal 28
Swimplace 51
Swimtime 7:29
Bikeplace 149
Biketime 32:50
Runplace 108
Runtime 24:45



So overall I got 9th in my age group out of 28 BUT 17th out of 131 women who competed. The compitition in my age group was pretty stiff!! And FINALLY the race shirt was decent. The past races I've done, the shirt have automatically turned into dust rags!

Anyway - after the race, we went out to Navarre and I checked out a bike I was thinking of purchasing. It fit perfectly - so I'm now a proud owner of my first Tri Bike. And Ultralight with a butterfly saddle (VERY comfortable for those 40+ miles biek rides!) and a ton of other extras the past owner threw in! Yeah!!!

Also, my Grandmother and mom are in town. Yesterday my Grandmother celebrated her
80th - YES 80TH!!! birthday!